DOWN MEMORY LANE Sussex Yeomanry war hero has not been forgotten

Published:09:29Tuesday 14 June 2011

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Mary Wyeth Boyce lives in Wiltshire, but she wrote to Down Memory Lane with information about some local war heroes.

She writes: On the war memorial in Bognor Regis appears the name of RH Geall. He served with the Sussex Yeomanry, a Territorial regiment, in the beginning of the second world war in France, as did my brothers George and Leslie Wyeth.

Thankfully they escaped from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940, but Raymond Geall was not so fortunate.

He was captured by the Germans and spent the next five years in a prisoner of war camp.

He is listed on the regimental roll of honour as dying in Germany on April 12, 1945.

This information is recorded in a recent book written by Mike Rainey entitled The Sussex Yeomanry Waymark Stone Memorial.

The memorial at Charlton was erected in 1988 within the peaceful setting of the Downs by the Old Comrades’ Association and a remembrance service is held there every spring by the Sussex Yeomanry Association to honour their fallen comrades.

I am also informed Raymond is on the Dunkirk memorial, as it is not only names of those killed at the time of the retreat but also those who died in captivity and have no known grave.

After Dunkirk, the Sussex Yeomanry went on to play its part in other theatres of war; North Africa, including the battle of El Alamein, Sicily, Italy and NW Europe.

Among the members of the regiment whose homes were in Bognor Regis, Raymond Geall was the only young man who did not survive the conflict.

If my memory serves me correctly, Raymond Geall had two sisters and I hope they are aware their brother’s name is honoured by the regiment in the Regimental History and also in the recent book of the history of the Waymark Stone at Charlton, and Dunkirk memorial.

Should they or their descendants wish to contact me or the Sussex Yeomanry Association, they can obtain my contact details from the Observer.